how may people are committed enough to remain fit and dedicated to creating art into the autumn of their age? Many just crib their way into retirement homes with wasted lives behind them.Ms Alonso is amazing. Visually challenged yet a top ballerina. Only the rarest of the tireless achieve this greatness. more power to women like her!
For years I saw Mme. Alonso in class and rehearsing with Jose Pares, her favorite pointe maitre de ballet, polishing her variations and giving her best on stage.......and her poor vision never stopped her......so much courage, willpower and dedication made her one of the best ballerinas of the XXth Century.......Thank you Mme. Alonso for all that magic and for continuing the tradition established by Taglioni and Pavlova.
Ok so what really interests me is how much technique she still does have in her older years. I presume with no hip and/or knee replacement? Contrast with many Balanchine ballerinas whose joints are shot in their forties. Sacrifices at the altar of speed!
A lot of hip and knee issues are dur to the demands that started thanks to Balanchine. Higher extensions, faster fouettes, things that add far more wear and tear on the body. She wasn’t trained that way, and she was better off for it.
time ago a cruel commenter did a comment truely of bad taste ,he told that jorge esquivel wasted the best period of his carrer doing the dog for blind people .this commente is really low taste ,but what is true is that he defected too late .in his top he was a magnificent dancer and if would have defected before would have had a big carrer out from cuba .but this is not the topic .about the topic imo madame alonso really remained on stage too much ,far longer than a reasonable time .
if is madame fracci she also did the same mistake ,many dancers males and females ignored the great advice of tamara karsavina that told :LEAVE THE STAGE BEFORE THE STAGE LEAVES YOU.
imo nureyev,loved yes money ,but a the end he was like crazy ,l saw him dancing in painful condictions ,clearly suffering on stage due pains in muscles and bones ,was really like a painful ,sad puppet ,the ghost of the dancer that he was .but l think that he danced 3 times more than every maledancer ,he really destroyed litteraly his body with a crazy amount of work.
Very melancholic to watch. When i was a ballet student i had for 2/3 years a blind colleague. I have never seen such willpoer and mental strength since then. God knows i hate political correctness and any kind of excuses for unreasonable bowing towards low talented people who rise to their success thanks to their origins, deficits or whatever (cough-cough Copeland), but Alonso... What a courageous woman. Fiery and truly artistic she was. Pleasing to watch in her prime, scary to watch here as her lack of eyesight makes one expect her to stumble or fall at any moment. My blind classmate once fell very badly from a double pirouette (yes, she was able to turn!) and got up, smilled and went on with her variation. God bless her and long life to Alicia Alonso for the lesson she gave us all during her career.
It sure looks like the stiffness in her neck and shoulders has a lot to do with her not seeing well. The movement of the eyes, the glance has a lot to do with the fluidity of the upper body.
I realy love the couple Alonso and Rudolf as the devil! And Alonso had lworked hard and very long to make the Compagnie in Havanna and the school belonging to the bests ind the world. I only can adore her!
She should have retired in her early 40s... Some of the footage is uncomfortable to watch, even embarrassing :( She should also give up the directorship of the BNC - don't want to be too blunt but ballet is a VISUAL art... How can someone direct a ballet company without being able to see how the dancers perform?...
but she spent the most of his carrer with great problems in eyes also in her young time she barely ,l was told by cubans people ,was able to see shadows .what she did in such condictions is miracolous ,this has to be recognized
I saw Alonso dance Giselle with Esquivel about 1979. It was amazing, and I was thrilled to see her at all. But yes, she should have retired long before. You could add Martha Graham to this list ... Esquivel was a fine dancer.
